We are less than 2 weeks away from the Solar Eclipse and our family can’t wait. With it being a once in a lifetime thing, we’re turning it into a party and doing some learning along with it. Here are 15 fun things to prepare for your Solar Eclipse party or to use with your kids leading up to the big day.

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Family Vacations – it’s something we believe is so important. I read a study the other day that summed up how we feel about family vacations. Recent research show that family trips have a profound and lasting impact on kids’ overall happiness and well-being. It states that spending time in a new location is so very important for a child’s brain growth. Seeing to new places or doing a new activity helps develop parts of the brain that are associated with everything from stress management to improved ability to learn. Researchers also say that vacations are beneficial not only in the moment, but in the long term as well, because they help build lasting, positive memories.

There is a reason our kiddos long for family vacations to the beach. Why they ask to go camping as much as they do. It’s because we love our time together. At the beach, we love finding seashells early in the morning or riding bikes up and down 30A. They love playing in the sand and being in the water with their Dad. I believe it’s because these things create special bonds with our kids. When we camp, they love playing cards and games together at the picnic table, or hiking through the woods, or tubing down the river as a family, or sitting by the campfire at night.

It doesn’t matter where you are going. Paris, France or Branson Missouri. The panhandle in Florida or Gatlinburg, Tennessee. All that matters is that you make it a fun, memorable experience.

Family holidays are valued by children, both in the moment and for long afterward in their memory,” psychologist and best-selling author Oliver James explained to The Telegraph. “It’s all about talking nonsense with your parents, sharing an ice cream and moments of time in which your interests are genuinely taken into account. So if you’re going to spend money on something, it’s pretty clear which option makes more sense.”

We like to give family vacations to our children instead of gifts for Christmas and other special occasions. Memories and traditions far outweigh the material gifts that are given at birthdays and Christmas. They’re going to forget that LEGO set you gave them or that video game they received at their birthday. I promise, they won’t forget the family vacation to the beach, or the trip through the Northeast you planned. Or splurge sometime and save up for that Disney Cruise they’ve seen commercials for and heard their friends talk about. The point is, it doesn’t have to be an extravagant trip for it to create good, long, lasting memories and for them to want to continue the tradition of traveling with their kids when they have their own.

18 Places to Visit With Your Kids Before They’re Too Big:

National Parks — some of our favorites are Yellowstone, Mammoth Cave, The Smoky Mountains, Utah’s Arches.

San Diego Zoo

DisneyWorld/DisneyLand

Civil War Battlefields

Niagara Falls

Golden Gate Bridge, California

US Space and Rocket Center, Alabama

30A Beaches

The islands in the Caribbean or British Virgin Islands

Ellis Island – Statue of Liberty, New York

Chicago Illinois

The Georgia Aquarium

Washington DC

American Museum of Natural History, New York

State Parks – camping

Cruise

Alaska

Seattle, Washington

Family vacations let your kids see another side of you they may not see when you’re back home: the playful side (instead of the over-caffeinated, highly stressed mombie side they’re so used to seeing). We have just decided that we don’t want to wait till we are old to experience travel, because then it will be too late to enjoy these trips with our children, maybe. They’ll be grown up with lives of their own and families of their own. Our idea is to instill the love of travel in them young, so when they are older, they continue to experience it and see the importance of it with their children. Traveling as a family, to me, represents a week’s worth of shared memories we’ll always have – places we’ve been and things we’ve seen that no one else got to experience. It represents a chunk of time where nothing else in this world really mattered to us — no work, Facebook, meetings, dirty dishes, or the laundry.

It doesn’t have to be a huge, lavish trip. A simple weekend camping trip will do wonders for you and your kids. A “staycation” in your own city will be so fun for your family.

It was our first day today. Our first day of the ’17/’18 school year. I have mixed emotions this year about starting back. I was excited to begin because we had been on break since the end of April and getting back in routine was needed for all of us, but on the other hand, I wasn’t so ready as I usually am. Probably because I see time ticking way too fast for my liking and officially have a middle schooler now is hard for me to digest sometimes. I just can’t believe it, still. So, we officially began our 6th grade, 3rd grade, and Kindergarten school year. Oh, what fun!

We have tried both the boxed sets of curriculum and then have used a hodge podge of curriculum, as well. This year, we’re doing a little bit of both. Each Spring, we love to attend our favorite homeschool convention, Teach Them Diligently where we can get our hands on the curriculum and analyze each and every brand till we drive ourselves crazy. We always use that as our time to stock up on next years curriculum and resources and it’s always SO helpful.

So, what did we decide on this year?

6th Grade:

Alpha Omega Monarch (for the second year in a row – we LOVE it!) He loves doing his school work online and is a great independent learners so this method works great for both of us. Of course, I’m there if he has a question and to grade his work, but he usually is on his own and does great. He’s doing Bible, Science, Language Arts, and History using Monarch.

Khan Academy (for Math – this is our 3rd year using it). It’s FREE and mastery based. We tried Singapore, Teaching Textbooks, all that and finally landed on this a couple years ago. Two thumbs up. We cannot say enough good things about it.

Write Through the Bible Handwriting (again, this is our second year to use it and we love it). Our oldest has always struggled in handwriting for some reason. It just always looked so sloppy, until last year. I’m not sure what it was, but there’s something about this handwriting curriculum that just clicked and his writing greatly improved.

3rd Grade:

Alpha Omega Monarch: This will be the first time our middle son has used Monarch or anything online. He’s SO excited and I think this is going to be a great fit for him as well. He’s doing Bible, History, Language Arts, and Science using Monarch.

Shiller Math: The last 2 years, we’ve used Singapore Math. While we totally believe in Singapore, it just wasn’t working for our middle son. He’s more of a hands on learner and we think the Montessori approach is going to work well for him. I’ll give you an update in a few weeks.

Write Through the Bible Handwriting: Same as last year, we’re doing Write Through the Bible again with our middle son. He did great with it as well last year and why change up a good thing, right?

Kindergarten:

Shriller Math: We’re starting with Shriller for him, the first time we haven’t started a child with Singapore Math. So far, he’s doing great and it’s fun. Even to a point of him begging to do more Math and we have to make a cut off time. Pretty great, huh?

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons: It’s what we have used with all 3 kiddos and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it so much! It’s easy for both parent and child and leaves the child wanting to go farther with lessons. No more crying sessions with your child over learning to read. Promise!

Write Through the Bible Handwriting: He’s already having so much fun with his handwriting. My other two hated tracing letters, but this guy is a different story! It’s so fun to watch him learn.

We also are doing something a little extra this year. All 3 kids are reading along with me as I read aloud the Who Is/ What Was/Where Is series. Have you heard of them? After we finish each book, we search Pinterest to create something together based on the book. Oh, they’re already loving it!

What homeschool curriculum are you using this year? I’d love to follow along your homeschooling journey. You can follow ours on Instagram by following me as well as by searching the tag #tuckerhomeschool.

Happy Back to School!

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